


Pyrrhic Victory

by Storijophe



Category: RWBY
Genre: Feels, Gen, I hate myself for this, Ruby goes mental, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:02:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24503566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Storijophe/pseuds/Storijophe
Summary: Ruby defeats Salem, but at what cost?For Writing Prompt Wednesday #189 from the RWBY subreddit.
Kudos: 8





	Pyrrhic Victory

Yang cried out as she was thrown back, her Aura broke, and Qrow sprinted forward to defend her. Salem smirked, staring at the pair with pity in her eyes. “It’s a shame, really. You could have prevented this, all you had to do was give me the relics. But no, you decided to fight back, and now look what’s happened?”

Qrow grimaced and raised his sword, glancing around the battlefield. Blake had already been knocked to the ground, hopefully merely unconscious. Weiss was just barely hanging on in her battle with a trio of massive Manticores, and Ruby was visibly exhausted from being harried by a Nevermore, which kept landing and taking off, swiping and flinging massive feathers at her.

Jaune was pouring his aura into Coco, the rest of her team defending from the seemingly endless hoard of Beowolves that continued to pour from the accursed pools all around. Ren and Nora were fighting in tandem against a Death Stalker, it’s stinger hanging on by a thread, though it still seemed otherwise fully able to fight.

Penny and the rest were presumably still in the valley leading up to the keep, having broken off to distract the unexpected wave of Grimm that had fallen upon them. 

Qrow knew he should have understood something was wrong then; something tipped off Salem and she had been waiting at the entrance to her castle with an army of Grimm, grinning viciously atop a Megoliath, its large, mammoth-like tusks shining in the eternal dusk of the area. They had pressed on anyway, claiming it was too late to turn back now.

They should have ran.

Ruby had tried to activate her eyes, but Cinder had immediately engaged her, flying forward with a scream and flinging bolts of flames at Ruby. She had disappeared at some point, but evidently hadn’t died, as no one else had manifested the maiden powers she held. In the chaos, Coco had been nearly killed when the Nevermore Ruby was currently fighting dived at her, slashing her with its wickedly sharp talons as it flew past.

Qrow smirked, feigning a cocky mask, as he stared Salem down. “We didn’t bring them, you know. We were going to bring the Sword back. Why on earth would we bring the others with us?”

Salem smiled knowingly, before a Ravager floated over, holding said Sword in its snake-like tentacles. The Sword of Destruction was surprisingly plain for a Relic, being a gold long sword. It was elegantly decorated around the hilt, but the blade appeared to be completely plain. Qrow knew, however, that when swung, the blade would shine with a brilliant light, annihilating everything it touched from existence. She reached out and grasped the hilt in her right hand, clearly confident with it in her hands.

Qrow paled slightly at the relic held in Salem’s hand. “So, you’re going to be like that, huh? Tch, Guess I’ll just have to make sure I don’t get hit.”

Salem’s smile widened into a wicked grin as she took up a fighting stance. “You know, you should have taken my offer, all those years ago. Then I wouldn’t have to kill your family. Or you, for that matter.” Her left hand began to glow a menacing red. “Don’t think I’m going to play fair, little bird. You will not win.”

Qrow merely smiled and stared at her. “Good, it wouldn’t be fun otherwise. What fun is a fight if it’s not a challenge?” He paused for a second, then sprinted forwards with a cry, his weapon unfolded into its scythe form. Salem merely smiled and stood still, before suddenly dashing forward and swinging wildly. Qrow’s weapon disintegrated before the assault, and he dived away from her, slowly backing away from the onslaught of blows.

Salem calmly taunted him, “What happened, little bird? You were so confident just a second ago.” Qrow grimaced and felt his foot reach the edge of one of the pools of inky blankness all around. He didn’t know what would happen if he fell in, only that he didn’t want to.

Salem quit swinging the Sword and paused, staring at him with the same grin she had been wearing as she annihilated his scythe. Suddenly, a beam of crimson energy shot out, and knocked Qrow straight back, over the edge of the pool. He cried out loudly, and began contorting into the shape of a bird. He never completed the transformation, as he slowly sank into the inky blackness.

Salem laughed darkly, her grin becoming a grimace. “See if you can survive my pain, little bird.”

Ruby turned at the cry and saw what happened, momentarily collapsing. She felt her eyes pulse, as they had after Pyrrha’s death, but this time was different. Where previously the pulse would begin and end in her eyes, this began to spread across her body. Her entire body began to glow silver, and the eyes of everything - her teammates, her friends, the Grimm, Salem - snapped to her in a moment.

Salem cried out and pointed at Ruby, every Grimm immediately charging towards her. Salem herself took off at a dead sprint in the opposite direction, trying to get as far away as she possibly could.

She couldn’t get far enough away.

Ruby began to gently rise in the air, and with a flash so bright it was almost physical, her eyes snapped open. She laughed maniacally, her laughter subsiding into sobs so full of grief and rage that all who heard cringed away. “ **SALEM! HOW _DARE YOU!_** ” She cried, as the light emanating from her eyes swept towards her. The halo around her body expanded, every Grimm it touched dissipating into thin air. The cursed ground upon which they had walked was cleansed, becoming vibrant green grass. The pools of inky blackness became crystal clear water, though Qrow was nowhere to be seen within.

Ruby’s friends watched in awe as the silver bullet that Ruby had become shot toward Salem, a path of purified ground in her wake. The Grimm which had followed her darted towards those still on the ground, Blake and Yang both being buried under swarms of smaller Grimm. Those left on their feet barely fought off the Grimm around them, helplessly crying out for Yang and Blake.

Ruby shot towards Salem and tackled her to the ground, and Salem screamed in pain as she regained her pure form, from before she dived into the inky blackness. She began to sob in a mixture of emotions as she realized all the horrible things she had done. Ruby glowed brighter as her sobs grew louder, the light slowly erasing Salem from existence, and wiping all of the Grimm in sight from existence.

* * *

Ruby stood over the small gravestone of her mother, two new ones to either side of it. Taiyang stood behind her, tears falling down his face as he looked on. Ruby had requested her friends leave her to herself for some time; they weren’t with the pair.

A single tear rolled down her face as she looked out over her cliff, and she began to speak. “Hey, mom. We beat Salem, but...I don’t know if it was worth it. Oscar said anything was worth her defeat, but I think he’s finally merged with Ozpin. Say ‘Hi’ to Uncle Qrow and Sis for me. I’m not ready to talk to them yet, but...tell them I will be soon. Blake too, if you see her. Her parents requested she be buried on Menagerie, so I don’t know the next time I’ll get to talk to her.”

She let out a single sob as the tears began to roll down her face. “I think I understand Salem now. She was in so much pain, all the time, I think. She seemed to realize what she had done, right before she...disappeared. I still have to go back and clear up the rest of the pools with...whatever you call this new power. Not yet, though. I don’t think I’ll be ready to go back there for a while, and the Grimm seem to have retreated all across the planet, so things should be fine for a bit.”

She fell to the ground and Taiyang rushed to her, wrapping his arms around her as the sobs began to wrack her small body. They didn’t speak a word as the two cried, the sun slowly setting in the distance.


End file.
